c-span now, the free mobile video app or online at c- span.org. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government, funded by these television companies and more including mediacom. >> mediacom supports c-span as a public service with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> to a discussion on the lgbtq plus movement and its role within the democratic party.

it's hosted by the human rights campaign on the side of the democratic national convention in chicago. it's about 90 minutes. >> we are excited to get this started. i have the great pleasure to bring up an honored guest. she is the first openly trans- black woman appointed to public office in cook county. she is the first to serve on a water reclamation district in the u.s. your got to keep clapping. maybe you did not hear what i said. the first black trans-woman to have those positions. we are thankful, you all. she is a lifelong social justice advocate, professional environmentalist and author who started her professional career serving as a youth outreach coordinator. the largest lgbtq community resource center. you all, i'm so excited to welcome to the stage,

commissioner precious brady davis. >> good afternoon, everyone. how is everyone doing today? welcome to chicago. i'm so glad that you're here. before i get started, hello, hello, thank you so much for being here. before i get started i want to acknowledge my husband, miles brady davis. and my daughter zane. because people don't realize the sacrifice that your family takes on when you run for public office. i'm trying to wrestle with this

microphone appear, and we are just going to, i'm just going to hold it, okay. i also want to recognize president carrie steele, the president of the water reclamation district here in cook county, who is joining us. thank you for joining us, president ceo. it's an incredible honor to be in your company this afternoon. and it brings me great joy to have the opportunity to welcome you to the city of chicago. a city that means so much to me. this city is the home of the 44th president of the united states, barack obama. a spirit of hope, and change that still guides us all. we still carry it. i was proud to join the long tradition of breaking glass ceilings one last year became the first black trans-woman to

hold public office in cook county. when i took on the role of protecting lake michigan, part of the largest body of freshwater on earth, and a source of drinking water for over 5 million people. i won my primary in march. thank you, shea. winning the most votes of any trans-candidate in american history. i was appointed last year by governor j.b. pritzker, whose administration and general assembly have passed legislation that includes lgbtq plus education in schools, and outlaws book bans. you can clap for that.

ensuring that our stories are not erased. illinois is a beacon of progressive ideals, but make no mistake, the fight for progress is not confined by state lines. in every corner of our state and nation, there are lgbtq plus americans whose lives are at take. though i'm proud to call chicago the home that made and raised me, i will always be a native nebraskan. i have continued to watch the progressive fight in omaha, lincoln, countless other communities across the country, and i am reminded of all that hangs in the balance, no matter where you live. as a black trans-wine, a wife and a mother, my womanhood does not invalidate the womanhood of

anyone else. we, as trans-people, are part of democracy. dividing forces may say it's about pronouns, bathrooms, and sports, but it's really about the safety and sanctity of our lives. to put it plainly, trans-rights are human rights. those sound lg american values to me. and i know vice president kamala we deserve gender affirming care, affordable housing and economic security. those sound like resounding american values to me, and i know vice president kamala harris agrees, too.

over the past four years, and throughout her career, vice president harris has shown up for the lgbtq plus community time and time again. whether prosecuting anti-lgbtq plus violence, as district attorney of san francisco, arguing that california's ban on same-sex marriage need to be struck down as a state attorney general. vocally supporting the equality act as a u.s. senator. protecting access to gender affirming care for transgender and gender nonconforming individuals. vice president harris has demonstrated a commitment to advancing policy that uplifts our lives. and she has chosen governor walz, who is also a former high school gsa advisor, as a running mate. we have a pro equality ticket. e c e

out about our by contrast, when trump was president, he recklessly spoke out against our community, literally declaring, by tweet, that trans people would be banned from serving in the military. he seeks to embolden someone elon musk, or even the knowledge is on trans daughter. to help them abolish the department of education, and trump also seeks to appoint conservative justice like those who orchestrated the fall of rome. i could go on, but we don't have to guess what will happen with another trump presidency. we all lived it. let it be known, though, our resolve in the democratic party has never been stronger.

here, today, i stand on the brave shoulders of trans folks who refuse to be refused. martian p. johnson, sylvia rivera, and other trans people who stood in the gap of marginalized communities. it is the legendary spirit of stonewall that propels us all forward. as vice president harris always says, what can we , unburdened with what has been in this moment -- i think of my daughters t, the future world they will inhabit. i am raising them to truly believe that they can be the change they wish to see in the world. what better to empower them then seeing a woman of color ascend to the highest office in

the land. for this reason, i declare my steadfast and enthusiastic support to elect kamala harris as the next president of the united states. we find ourselves in the midst of an extraordinary moment in the canon of lgbtq+ history. a light is before us, and i believe we will win. >> give it up for commissioner precious brady-davis ! y'all,

we are definitely going to keep this thing going. i have the great honor -- i know i look supercool, but i am also sort of a nerd, y'all, i will own that. i am a trekky. y'all act like y'all aren't also trekkies in this room. if you a trekky, put your fist in the air if you a trekky. that's what i'm talking about. you all, i get the great pleasure to introduce our next guest, the star of "star trek: discovery," which gave us our first black female captain. okay? that's how you know i am watching. okay. also starred in 13 reasons why," "my so-called life," "the previous night," an award-

winning actor, producer, activist, humanitarian who makes our children near and dear to his heart, fighting for safe schools, you all, help me give it up to the remarkable wilson cruz! how are you doing,? you ha how are you doing,? >> fowhat's up? how you doing, chicago? you guys have to forgive me as i read this off of my phone. this little type, but i think i figured it out. i'm so happy to be here with all of you. i'm so thrilled to be here with hrc, i am so grateful for all the work that kelly and hrc have been doing across the country to make sure we take advantage of this moment and create the country that we all deserve. i am here with all of you, today, because we have worked

to do, to elect kamala harris and tim walz, next president and vice president of the united states of america! the choices we make at this election will have very real consequences for our families, our freedoms, our future, and they could not be painted in stark contrast. thing about my 18-year-old niece , starting her adult life with less rights than her grandmother had. and my nephews taking part in active shooter drills in schools. my brother's marriage, with his loving husband, who happens to be an immigrant, and my aging parents, who rely on their social security and medicare to make ends meet every month.

i think about that and how we elect -- and who we elect in november -- will directly affect them and the quality of their lives. when i think about us, whose resilient and vibrant community has made so much progress just in my lifetime alone, it's the difference between an administration led by, larraz, that welcomes us into the conversation, and with a seat at the table believes that everyone should be treated with respect and dignity, and be able to live without fear, no matter who they are, who they love, or, an administration led by donald trump, who demonizes, marks -- endangers the lives of lgbtq+ people, both in his language, in his actions, and policies as president. every

freaking day. the four years of the trump administration were a nightmare. i have no interest in repeating it. every day, i would wake up wondering what on constitutional, un-american, and outrageous policy would await us, and this time, be sure to know that it will be worse. from attempts to repeal the affordable care act, which has improved and saved countless lives, the demonization and cruelty shown to train people and immigrants, to overturning roe v. wade, jeopardizing access to ivf, seeking to ban abortion nationally, and appointing supreme court justices with christian nationalist ideologies that have put the same-sex marriage and all of our hard-won rights on the chopping block. our community cannot afford another four years of trump and

his policies, not when he and his bella bixby missed republicans have shown us, and have been so clear about their intentions to seek retribution, undermine democracy, and turn the clock back to a time when women were chattel, and lgbtq people and people of color had no right at all. we have come too far. our ancestors fought too hard and gave too many of their lives for us to allow that. not when we could elect kamala harris and tim walz, who believe that, in america, our greatest strength is our diversity. to recognize and celebrate the extraordinary courage and contributions of the lgbtq+ people have made, and continue to make to this country. kamala harris, we have a leader who has been our unequivocal, enthusiastic ally for her

entire career. i will tell you something, i lived in los angeles for decades, and every time she showed up on a ballot, i made sure i knew i voted for her. this is her moment. i have waited for this moment, i feel like, for 20 years. she fought with us, shoulder-to- shoulder, in our fight for marriage equality, and has been leading the fight to pass the equality act in congress, and in tim walz, we will have a vice president who, when he was a high school teacher, as the football coach, in the late '90s, was his high school's gsa faculty advisor. a fact that, as glistens current forms of gratitude, and together, they will lead an administration of strength and expand access to healthcare that lgbtq+ people need, including challenging states from walking transitive for

accessing gender affirming care. here, with you this week, because there will come a day when we will look back at this pivotal moment in this nation's history, and we will ask ourselves what we did to secure the lives and futures of this new generation of young people that we at glisson advocate for every day, who rely on us to be their voice and their vote in this election. we can fight to continue the march towards a more perfect union in which we expand a freedom and liberty here, at home, and abroad, in the way that those who -- in ways that those who came before us did for you and for me, or did we sit back and let the planet's last best hope shrivel up and die under the thumb of a man, an administration, and a republican party that works to erase and shame us from the

public square? a man who never deserves the honor to lead it, who never understood what truly makes this country great. it is people, and our courage to embrace and celebrate our diversity, more and more, with each passing generation. so, i am very proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with all of you, with this campaign, to make sure we make the right choice this november, and elect kamala harris and tim walz, the next resident and vice president of the united states of america. so, let's get to work, y'all. i'm going to be here all week. apparently, i take selfies all day. i am here for it. i will leave you with one last

request. live long and prosper, my friends. >> y'all, give it up again for wilson cruz! that's absolutely right. i am hearing that. you all listen, i know -- what time is it? is it almost 4:00? 3:40? y'all act like it's 12:40, like late at night, you all. we need energy. this cannot be the energy -- we need to take it back to our communities. we need energy. i have got to say this to y'all, i heard wilson say, donald trump's name, and i know we said, y'all, move over, but he needed to be louder boos when that name was called. okay?

we need to make sure he sees the jail house and not the white house. we need to make sure kamala harris gives that good black job in the white house -- you all could have a president associating with the or the a.k.a.? y'all better get it together today! when we hear donald trump's name, we not just going to move, but we will boo, and we are going to do what? and do what? and do what? all right, y'all need some energy. okay? we are the -- caucus here. we are the best party at the dnc. this cannot represent our energy level, you all. it is time to turn up. okay, you all, listen, i am excited to keep this going. i have the great pleasure to welcome to the stage, next, sophia bush and jordan c. brown, you all. sophia, you all, is an actress, activist -- i am coming. i have got to give you your flowers. sophia is an actress, activist,

producer and entrepreneur, who has started -- started in television and on projects such as "one trey hill," "and john tucker must die," which i was watching, "incredibles 2," and beyond entertainment, she is a dedicated activist and philanthropist, raising nearly $1/2 million for causes near and dear to her heart, you all, jordan c. brown, a seasoned political strategist working at the intersection of politics, media, entertainment, driving progressive social change. as the founder of one hill, he partners with culture shapers, business leaders, interveners and elected officials to achieve innovative advocacy goals. you all, i need you all to have energy as we welcome up to this stage sophia and jordan. i did l

energy. i did l >> hi, friends. i like it. i like it. i also did bring a little musical energy for you. a little feminine phenomenon with our girls. i know, for the kids on the internet? hi, everyone, i am so thrilled to be here. i am so embarrassed to be speaking after cruz, but i am so excited to be here with my great friends, and all of you. kelly, thank you for organizing this. this is just phenomenal. back when we were little baby politicos, knocking on doors together, trying to figure out what we were going to do to make our mark on democracy, i don't know that we could have envisioned some of the joy we witnessed, and i don't know that we can have envisioned some of the pain that wilson so eloquently spoke to her i am

elated to be here, because rooms like this remind me to hold onto hope, and they remind me that hope is an action verb, and that it is the ultimate act of love to show up and show out for the people that you love. so, thank you all for being here. you show up in the show out. i am, clearly, a policy nerd. my day job is also making film and television sometimes, but the thing that excites me is that rooms like this gather us from all ends of the spectrum, not just the alphabet letters that we represent, but the political spectrum, geography around the country, we show up here because we believe in the experiment of america, we believe in the place that my mother's mother was brought to on a boat through ellis island, the place that my dad came in that '70s, i never left. we believe in a place where we get to have different kinds of families, different kinds of views, and different kinds of

futures, and i am not only so excited, as a californian, who has watched vice president harris hold so many incredible offices in my home state, who wept when she demanded that marriages begin, and who is so honored to advocate, you know, with her administration, but i am so excited for all of us to have someone like her who wants to make sure that we're safe i am so excited that we have coach walz telling all the old white guys to shut up and mind their business, because our freedom isn't hurting any of them, anyway. america is supposed to be for all of us. supposed to be a place where we are all protected, supposed to be a place where, as you mentioned, we can all do well, we can all have access to clean water, and our children can read books in school, including banned ones, instead of having

to do shooter drills. so, my hope for us is that, whatever it is that fires up, including the identities that have us all in this room, as we have heard, the best party of the dnc -- let's be frank -- i hope that we remember this hope, we remember what is at stake, because i know, in this room in particular, we will survive another four years of the former guy. i find it deeply ironic, you know, we are all out here advocating for our families, and he is out there being the guy who keeps cheating on his wives, doing the things we all know he has done. like, he tells on himself all the time, but, we know -- we are in this room -- because we know we are at the dnc because we know -- and i just want to say, thank you, i know we are signing up to do the work, we are not going to take our feet off the gas. it feels amazing to see this momentum and this hope. we will not be, you know, resting on our laurels, though they be fabulous. so, thank you all so much for having me, for having jordan.

i am just honored to be here in the fight with you. >> i feel like we are doing a standup, because we're behind the same podium, but i am incredibly honored to be here. i want to say, first and foremost, i am such a massive fan of hrc, and i am so grateful for all of you and your team. we get to go to the parties at the conventions, but in between, you know, like, in the middle of the terms, when no one is thinking of much, they're there fighting everyday, so hard, and it really means something. i got to marry my husband last year, and i was so emotional -- by all of the people who did it -- through all of their advocacy -- made it possible for that moment to happen. one of the reasons i'm here, you know, despite -- it is my sixth convention. i do love the democrats -- my husband and i are having a baby next month. you know, half the country doesn't want that to happen.

they, you know, a lot of it is ignorant -- their ignorance -- and when they get to know us and see us, you know, that is how we know we win, that is how we know we got marriage equality, that is how it became safe to be who we are in the country. when people really say, do you think it will be that bad for the lgbtq+ committee of trump gets back in? he seems like everything was fine the first time? they kind of gloss over all of this horrible things that he did to our community. but, we don't have to guess. what we see in italy happening now is the prime minister going back and editing birth certificates, not just to lgbtq + families, anybody using ibf and surrogates, and the cruelty of taking the parents' names of the certificates is what these people with project 25 want to do. stuff like that here. we will fight -- we're going to win -- we're going to win, because outside is an

invitation to something. come join us. we will fight for you. we include you, love you, and their side is afraid and want you to think that, around every corner, there's danger lurking, and we all see that. there's a lot of great people in this country, and i love all of you for being here, and i know how hard you fight, all four years, not just during the convention. so, let's go fight, let's go win. i am honored to be with you all, and thank you so much for being here. and jordan. and i may have been remiss. >> y'all can keep the applause going. y'all, give it up again for sophia and jordan. you all, i may have been remiss, we have to activate, like in our communities, if you have a cell phone in this room, but it up in the air. don't pretend, y'all, y'all, i

need you to text, we show up to 472-472. we show up to 472-472. so, you all, all you are doing that, i have the great pleasure to say, we are working hard to make sure, come november, we have elected our first black president -- female president -- to the united states, but i get to say, y'all, i'm sorry to break it to y'all, i already had my first black president. okay? in the human rights campaign, i had the first president at the human rights campaign, black woman president, of the human rights campaign. you all, i get the great leisure to introduce the first black -- woman to lead the human rights campaign in its 40- year history, y'all, i am proud to serve shoulder to shoulder with her, she fights like -- for equality and equity, y'all,

give it up for ms. kelly robinson! >> [inaudible] y'all i am so proud to be hey, y'all know about the hype? y'all, i am so proud to be here with you all. do you know we are sitting in history right now? we are sitting in history. look, i don't ever want to stop being in awe of the moment we are in. first of all, i do have to say, in addition to representing the human rights campaign, today, i'm resenting thick thighs for kamala harris. we are having meetings every day! y'all, i love this about us, because we have work to do, but we also have the joy in the work. in this history making moment, we are not going to lose the joy right? our ancestors fought too hard

for that. just in my family, it has only been three generations since my family was enslaved in mississippi. it has only been three generations since we fought our way to freedom to be the first free black family in iowa, and now, today, i am standing before you as the first black -- woman to lead the human rights campaign! in this room, getting ready to elect the first black and south asian president of the united states of america! you can't tell me change isn't happenings! you can't tell me progress isn't possible, because we are living proof of it, every single day, and i need us to be clear, let's be a -- people -- have always been at the forefront of that progress and change in the united states of america. you better remember, there's no civil rights movement without preston, y'all, no stone wall without marsha p johnson and sylvia rivera, y'all, and there ain't no fast car" without

tracy chapman, y'all. we are here, we will always be here, and we are not going back, and in this moment, we got to be clear that everything that we fought for is at stake. you see exactly what they plan to do to us and everybody that we love, and we care about, look, donald trump may have mastered the comb-over, but he cannot cover up his terrible policies. right? we know who he is, we know what he is trying to do. y'all, he is trying to ban our marriages, he is trying to ban our healthcare, he is trying to erase us, especially our trends family, from existence, and we are not going to let it happen, and i am clear that we are powerful in rooms like this. 800 lgbtq+ allies, 800 of us. there are 75 million voters that prioritize lgbtq+ issues

when deciding who to vote for, 1/2 of generations he identifies as a member of this community, y'all, we got them scared. they are scared of us, and you know how i know it, because you don't spend billions of dollars trying to suppress the votes of people you are not afraid of. you don't spend millions of dollars trying to attack the lies of people you are not afraid of, so, we got to be clear that we are in a position right now not just to win for today, but to win for this election year and for generations to come. in the words of the reverend dr. beyonce knowles carter, we won't let our freedoms rot in -- will we? y'all know the rest of the song? we going to keep running because -- a winner don't quit on themselves. okay. i got something. the beehive is over here. i got you. in this moment, y'all, we have got to embrace the power we have and recognize that, november 5th, that is the last day of the election. we have got to do everything that we can, every day we can, between now and then, to win.

you can still register to vote in a lot of states. early voting is starting in a couple of weeks, the election is happening right now, in front of us, and the decision is ours. if the 75 million quality voter turnout, we win, period. it is up to us to decide. reference, we can have scapegoats and trans kids, we can have statehouses that support those kids and their families. we just have to show up. y'all, we can have a congress that keeps hating on pregnant people, or a congress that codifies roe v. wade into law. we just have to show up! y'all, we can have a 34-time convicted felon want to be white nationalist dictator, or we can have a white house that looks like america fights for all of us. we just have to -- we just have to -- we just have to -- yes, that's what this election is

all about. thank you all for coming out, not just today, but physical day, and i wanted to end my remarks by giving a little love and flowers to somebody who deserves it, is folks in the room? come on up here, earl. come on, chairman. anyone that knows earl folks, the chair of the dnc's lgbtq+ caucus and the ceo/president emeritus, the center for black equity, knows that he is a fighter and has been fighting for decades to get to a moment like this, where we can be the deciders of our own future. as you make your way up, i will continue this and spray some glitter on you. okay? all right? 25 years ago, earl founded the center for black equity to advocate for black lgbtq communities all across the globe. for 25 years, his steadfast and dedicated leadership has moved the fight for racial equity forward in all areas of our lives. he is an hiv and a.i.d.s.

activist, democratic chipping and pillar of the dc community. in fact, just last month, the mayor declared july 1st earl folks jr. day in washington, d.c. when you think of black pride, you need to be thinking of earl folks. when you think about the democratic already and our power, you need to be thinking about earl folks. when you think about this moment, you need to be thinking about the legacy that is earl folks jr.! so, today, we want to present him with a surprise award from the office of human rights campaign to thank you for your years, your decades, your dedicated leadership and service. get on your feet, because we are celebrating german earl folks jr.!

earl, thank you so much. we appreciate you, we love you and we >> oh, he is blushing a little bit. we did our job well. earl, thank you so much. we appreciate, love and honor you. i will hand the mic back to our wonderful emcee today, nick harris. >> y'all, give it up again for our president, kelly robinson and earl rose! now, i get to welcome to the stage our first panel, who is going to talk about how we reached these lgbtq equality voters. there's 75 million across the country. we are joined today by the president of miles strategies

and leading democratic political strategist, also serving as chief strategist for the hrc equality both pack this cycle, y'all, give it up for god . we are going to welcome charlie clymer, activist military veteran. thank you for your service, author of the popular book " charlotte's web," and thoughts on politics, religion and culture in a former hrc national press secretary. y'all, give it up for her. next, keith edwards, democratic digital and medications strategist who served as senior digital advisor to johnson at's campaign. thank you. next, we will welcome blair e. maunie, y'all, creator of "smarter in seconds," an "l.a. times" author and historian. >> thank you very much. >> we are going to welcome hrc's very on justin unga.

>> hello, everybody. welcome to the dnc. can we get you a mic? don't worry, we will make sure that you have one. how is everybody doing? all right, all right. we're going to talk about the power of the quality voters. that's all of you. get ready for that power. we're going to jump right in. panel is looking good. i will call this the blush tones panel. audience is looking good. first question is for you guys, hrc measures what we call the quality voters. these are a subset of voters, lgbtq+ and allies who prioritize , to kelly's point, lgbtq+ inclusive policies, when making decisions at the ballot box. as of this year, we have 75 million equality voters across

the country. listen up, y'all, just to name a few states, 1.4 million in arizona, my home state, equality voters, 2.2 in georgia, 2 to 3 million in michigan, 568,000 in nevada, 4 million in pennsylvania. are swing states, you have got some pennsylvanians in you. i promise, there's a question here, and these voters are younger, more racially diverse and more female than the general electorate. guy, you have worked on many campaigns, statewide and nationally, in your career. how have you seen lgbtq+ voters grow as a voting bloc, and why is it so important that organizations like hrc and our allies reach that mark, and

finally, what role do you see equality voters playing in this year's election? >> first of all, it is great to be here. compared to when i first started in politics -- we aren't in a new chapter at lgbtq+ power, it is a completely different book. i actually volunteered on my first campaign and became a staffer after i left the southern baptist ministry, after coming out. it turns out southern baptist minister and -- don't go well together, no, and i moved to boston to work on a campaign, and even in boston, in the late '90s, we were all sitting around, and someone said, know, we have this survey to fill out from the group. who is going to take care of them, oh, the pride parade is coming up, and we need somebody to coordinate that, and there's this endorsement thing. who is going to do that? no surprise, there was no lgbtq paid staffer. so, because i was

, though, barely out, i was relatively out, as a type a person, and i decided that the brand-new baby -- former southern baptist minister who had never lived in the city would do a good job, basically, outing himself and becoming the lgbtq coordinator, and then, the next 15 years, you saw slow, but very painful change. so, whenever you were working on a senate race or a governors race, and it was time to talk about the -- we didn't get all the initials like 2000, and it was time to talk about how we were going to mitigate damage and sidestep questions, and have conversations where we would commit to be committed in private, but publicly, we just weren't ready. they would try to find the lgbtq staffer to have that difficult conversation. there weren't rooms like this. there weren't conversations like this. we didn't have djs cheering us

on. we didn't have a lot of elected officials in most places. so, to come to this place, it is a remarkable change in our history, but the most important change is that we went from asking for and hoping for respect and resources to demanding respect and expecting resources, because lgbtq motors and a 75 million equality voters are actually the difference between winning and losing. remember -- we barely lost in 2016, and we barely won in 2020. equality voters were the difference in every single battleground state that hillary lost and joe biden won, and they will be the difference in the determination of whether or not donald trump wins or kamala harris wins. so, we have an anonymous amount of power, because as you mentioned, we

don't just have our community, we have 4 million people in pennsylvania that are saying, i am willing to prioritize lgbtq issues as voting issues. we have 600,000 in nevada that will say, this is my priority when making a decision about who am i going to vote for and whether i'm going to turn out, and, like 1998, we actually could reach them where they actually get their news, the information, if we invested the resources to do it. so, this is a matter of campaigns prioritizing us, not just because it is the right thing to do, because frankly, most campaigns aren't always motivated solely by the right thing to do. it is because it is the thing that will help them win this election at every level of the ballot. let's hear it. >> firlotte klaiber, next question for you, here to talk about the power of lgbtq+ motors and equality voters without a doubt, lgbtq+ people are under attack.

more than wonders 20 and t lgbtq+ bills are passed in state legislatures the last two did years, most targeting transgender kids. we have also seen donald trump and j.d. vance attack trends people in their political speeches. how do you recommend transgender people fight back, push back, and how do we, very importantly, breakthrough this negativity? >> great question. first of all, shout-out to all of my hrc family. y'all are killing it. human rights campaign just does the work, and i'm so proud -- really quickly, to get this out of the way, how many of y'all live in chicago? that is a lot you need to vote for commissioner brady davis. get your family to vote, get your friends to vote, get your relatives to vote. i love that woman. i'm going to flip it back on you for a second. how do non-trans people get to

fight to protect trans rights? that is what i want to hear. great question, believe me, but listen, there's actually a pretty big solution that helps us all, passing the equality act , federal legislation that would make it possible to have non-dissemination reductions in every state and territory in the united states, hands down, without question of secretary buttigieg tries driving for michigan, where he lives, to l.a., he is going to have a change to the rights in which he is entitled in every county, state, and city drive through. it is a patchwork of rights, every lgbtq american lives under, and we can fix that, make it so there's not discrimination in housing or credit, or public accommodations, or jury service. that is something we can do. all we need is a workable majority in numbers, and a president who can sign that bill into law. that is all we need. that is all we need, y'all,

universal non-dissemination protections. so, here is how i want everyone to fight back. i want you to register to vote, i want everyone in this room to become an influencer, meaning, go on social media, pick up your phone, organize a gathering at your house, get your friends, your family, your neighbors, make sure they vote, and also, have awareness of lgbtq inequality and the lack of non-dissemination protections. by the way, we are going to take back the house in november. it is going to happen. we will have our first openly trans number of congress right over here, sara mcbride. and, we are going to hold a senate. i have been saying that for a year now, we are going to hold a senate. people always tell me, come on, that is a bit of a stretch. no, it is not. if we do the work that needs to be done and follow the example

of vice president harris and governor walz, we can take back the house, hold the senate, hold the white house, and get these non-dissemination protections past once and for all. we can do that. that is what i want us to do. thank you, charlotte >> sounds like you are asking us to show up. >> there you go. >> we are not going back. >> okay. >> next question, mr. keith edwards, how has the digital/political landscape changed in the last four weeks? what context are we existing and? >> great question. well, i think we all know a lot has changed in four weeks. i don't know about you, but i was terrified five weeks ago. i was not feeling great, and i'm feeling good today. very, very good it is interesting how quickly things can change, but it is also the beautiful thing about politics. 1, rick maranon, net stick, can

be sunny. when it is a sunny day, you better go out and enjoy, because we don't know when it is going to rain again. what i will say, that i think the moment we find ourselves -- especially as the context is online, on the internet, is it is such a powerful thing. i think we are also used to be against something, against donald trump, and i don't know about you, but i was getting kind of sick of it. is this the same story over and over again? how mad can you get? i think, when i have found, at least with my content and my clients i have worked with, is that it is such a much more powerful thing to be for something, to be for, larraz, to be for -- coach walz -- i was sick of having to be negative, and it is so nice to say, this is what i stand for, this is what i believe the country can be, and this person

represent my values, and i will do everything i can to make sure she is elected, she is elected, so i will say, for me, i think one of the best things i have found that i can do now is i don't have to tell the same story again about donald trump we all know who he is. we're not going to convince anyone anything differently. but what we can do is tell people who kamala harris and tim walz are, because they don't know. i don't know. we know, because we are crazy people in the hrc panel, you know, and what time is it? 4:11 on august 19th? we wrote interesting people, but not everyone knows who kamala harris is. so, charlotte is right, each of you can be influencers in your own way, because you talk to your community online. that is a much more valuable thing that someone like me. they will listen to you.they might disregard what i say,

because it is coming from a democratic strategist. so, i would suggest that -- take advantage of the hope and the optimism, the joy, and speak positively about kamala harris, and let other people talk negatively about donald trump. that is all i got. >> everybody today, every day, we are going to show up. yes? hello there. >> hello. >> how are we doing? let you turn that mic on. >> here. hi. how are you doing? >> can i ask you a question? >> yes. >> tell me, blair, tell me a little bit about how you are leveraging your platform to organize and educate audiences. what are some of the common trends we are seeing? >> little-known fact -- first of all, thank you so much for having me -- what i love about what hrc is doing here is that it is not just big capital, lgbtq+, it is lower-case, it is people bringing forward -- i

will explain that eventually -- i like how people get to have secrets these days -- what i think is so important is that the people who are making up hrc are people who have been doing this work on the ground. it is not coastal elites who stay in new york and l.a., it is people on the ground knocking doors, doing the grassroots work. it is people like my friend, brendan wolf, one of the survivors of the pulse nightclub shooting, who is now a full-time staffer at hrc, and it is people like kelly robinson who i worked with when i was at land parenthood -- planned parenthood. the branding is still on point, but that is the shift. people on the ground doing this work, grassroots, people who grew up seeing, time after time, mass shootings in their school, doing those drills themselves, are now eligible to vote, and they are fed up and -- they had to miss graduation because somebody couldn't handle a pandemic. they are sick and tired of

being sick and tired, but they're also so adept at finding joy amidst the mess, they are adept at creating their own language, their own means, their own communication, and i think we finally shifted -- speaking a political strategy -- from telling the young people, don't vote to tell them how the heck to get the polls. that is the shift we have seen. the micro series video promises that i will teach you, in 90 seconds or less, about these issues that matter, because the average person doesn't have time to sit through a dock. we need to meet them where they are at. if you can learn this dance from tiktok, you can learn intersection of the theory. if you can learn that you fell out of a coconut tree because of a viral video, i need you to learn what racism is. okay? i just did a visio about reverse racism. check that out, no pressure. but it doesn't exist. that is the trend, we have gotten adept at listening to young people. we are in such a different place than we were in 2016.

instead of, like, beating that disturbed him of saying, young people are apathetic, we don't want to vote, we are dismissing that, young people themselves are running their own events, calling the auntie at like 1:30, i can handle it, but they are enthusiastic, and i will give them credit for that. that is the trend, they are creating trends, moving forward and overwhelmingly progressive, just like myself, a bisexual woman, they're part of the -- community, also vocal, happy to walk through -- what would you call it -- the contradiction of being a person of faith. i, myself, being a muslim and bisexual. they are sick of beauregard the scripps with his being them full selves all the time -- you finally have a big enough tent to accommodate them. that is visible eyes through all of the people sitting in this room. it is just a matter of us encouraging those folks, continuing to move forward with those folks, being an influencer that is my full-time job. y'all ain't got to do it full- time. you are allowed to put links online, go to bote.gov, tell people in your group how to critically think when it comes

to miss information and disinformation, read the whole article before you share it. so, i think those of the other trends happening, too, but more than anything, it is the excitement. 1 of 200 content creators who has been allowed to go to the dnc this year and cover the event, to contribute, governor gretchen whitmer this morning, fired up and ready to go. okay, "big gretch?" it is a new generation of people whose jobs didn't exist five years ago also. >> thank you, blair. very demir, very mindful. >> very intentional, very polite -- >> okay. one more question, one person to volunteer for this, then we will wrap it up, everybody. this is about anything we have seen as new. new, new, new, what is a new tactic? you have seen it online, to reach voters that excites y'all? take a volunteer. anybody wants to take this? a new tactic?

strategic? >> a new tactic, i think, that's really important is -- so, the overnight success -- now, i get to talk about brad. this is an album that really captures the fact that so many people are sick of the overproduction of the music industry, so sick of seeing what they call industry claims, people just doing the industry, suddenly having rocket strapped to the back and are leaving. we have brad in the back -- there we go up is when charlie tweeted that, that means she is of the cauldron of the people. how many people knew there was a wrath -- wrap beef between kendrick lamar and drake? thank goodness for culture in the streets. when kendrick said, i am with the culture feel, when he did people and said, what it is like for drake as a colonial person to come in and take a culture and try to co-opt it, he is saying, hey, they not like us,, we are seeing is, kamala harris is. okay? this is the difference. we have people who are of the culture, who have been in it, with to howard as part of the

a.k.a.'s, but also knows that young people are sick of the -- sick and tired of the production, sick and tired of the pageantry, they want it to break through. that is what it is all about, and that is what being polite and the rapidly evolving movement for young people to be cool and demure , and i love that it is everything you might have been made fun of for, their leading it and thriving with either being muslim, a woman, whether that is being more feminine or, you know, having a little bit of a limp wrist on occasion, it doesn't matter. young people are there for it. i think of is the newest thing, the newness itself, young people not waiting for permission to lead, it is them stepping into their own power. that is something we can all learn from. >> we are into it. all right, y'all, let's give it up for this panel. remember, text when you show up -- 247-247, let's show up together! thank you, my friends!

>> y'all, give it up again for our amazing panel. y'all, we're going to keep this going. i have the great privilege and honor -- i keep saying that -- but i really do -- to introduce another trailblazer. state senator sara mcbride is running for congress in delaware, and not if, you all, but when she wins -- when she wins -- she is going to be the first ever transgender member of congress. you all, this is history. so, listen to me, sara isn't new to this work at all. she has been advocating for the community for decades, from her work to governor markel to the late attorney general beau biden, as well as being hrc's very own press secretary, to her time in the state senate, passing legislation to expand access to healthcare, promoting green technologies and passing

the landmark healthy delaware families act, sara is the embodiment of what it means to be a public servant. you all, i am thrilled to welcome to the stage, not just a friend, but our very next member of congress, only out transgender woman to join congress. we know what is going to happen, we are claiming it. y'all, give it up right now for sara mcbride. i'm going to call y'all congresswoman sara mcbride. y'all say what you want, congresswoman sara mcbride. >> thank you so much. can we give zach a round of applause for being an amazing emcee? thank you so much for that incredible warm welcome. are you all fired up? i am certainly fired up, because,

hope and history is in the air this week in chicago, and hope and history is in the air in this room. as i look out on this crowd, i see so many -- so many folks -- who become like family to me. of course, my former colleagues at the human rights campaign, they are amazing. let's give them a round of applause for bringing us together today. the incomparable kelly robinson, the amazing hrc president, joyful warrior that she is, and as i look out on this crowd, i see folks who are role models to me. i see folks who have blazed the trails, i see enrichment, making the place in the democratic party for trans people like me through tireless advocacy. thank you. hope and history, that is what

this week is about. and i know we all come together to this space, to this city, to this cause, for the same reasons, because we know what is at stake. we know what is at stake in this election. yes, we know what is at risk, we know who donald trump is. he is the same man who governed through pettiness and grievance for four long years. he is the same incompetent, insecure trust fund baby that he has always been. he is the same person who, for four years, targeted lgbtq rights, voters rights, workers rights, abortion rights, every step of the way, and we know, that with four years of donald trump and j.d. vance, our community will be in the crosshairs. because, we don't have to look any further than their project

2025 agenda. we don't have to look any further than what maga extremists are doing in state legislatures across the country, because there is a cruel and concerted effort right now, in this moment, to target some of the most vulnerable but bad -- members of our community, trans young folk. these politicians are seeking to manufacture culture wars, to put a target on the backs of young trends people, to rip away parents and providers, coaches and classmates, teammate and teachers, leaving them isolated, telling them that they don't belong. we know what is at risk, but as this panel just talked about, elections aren't just about what's at risk. they are also about what's possible. and we know, in this room, what is possible if we elect kamala harris and tim walz. we know what is possible if we

make jeffries the next speaker of the house, and we know what is possible if we keep the united states senate. we know what is possible for our cause. it is finally, finally, getting the equality act to a probably quality president end desk as soon as humanly possible. it is clear nondiscrimination of protections, it is a federal government that continues to have trends young people's backs as maga extremists continue to but publicly for them, but also progress that our community needs because we are human beings, it is progress that delivers a more livable wage, progress that delivers a more affordable childcare and housing for every family, a progress that delivers universal healthcare for every patient, it's progress that delivers paid family and medical leave for every person in this country, it is progress that protects

reproductive freedom, and bans assault weapons at the federal level. that is what is possible. that is what is possible if we continue to summon our faith and our fight to win this election in november, because, that's right, we have, in our hands, the capacity, this week, in chicago, for the next several weeks, moving forward, and this november, to do as the irish poets called on us to do, which is to make, in this election, hope and history rhyme. we have the opportunity, in this election, to show an lgbtq young person, and in particular, a trans young person in my home state of delaware, or north carolina, or texas, or in florida, that our president and our vice

president continue to have their backs. that, here, in america, they belong, they belong in our communities, they belong in our schools, they belong in our houses of worship, they belong in our workplaces, and yes, they even belong in the halls of congress. thank you all very much. it is an honor to be with you. let's go win this thing! again r our soon to be congresswomanin r sarah mcbride. [applause] we're going to go >> y'all, give it up again for our soon-to-be congresswoman sara mcbride! you all, we're going to go right into our next panel. this is the last piece we are going to give you all, just to close out program, but we get to bring to you some real power houses. for the movement, these folks are building power.

you all, building political power, and they are organizing to ensure that freedom and liberation, without exception, is achieved every day. you all, please help me welcome to the stage rodrigo layton, executive director of advocates for trans equality . y'all, keep it going. denise parker, president and ceo of the lgbtq+ victory fund, dr. marissa richman, member of the metro historical commission , and culture of the transgender advisory committee of the democratic national committee -- she also previously served as the first and only transgender person of color on the democratic national committee -- and you all, let's welcome back our very own president of the human rights campaign, kelly robinson. e every time she gets up. e

my first question is for >> y'all, she gets me every time she gets up. you all, we are going to jump right into some questions. my first question is for you, rodrigo. earlier this year, advocates for trans equality was founded as the national center for trans legal defense and education fund. two longtime champions for the trans immunity merged together as one organization. talk to the audience about why this move was so important now, given all the attacks piecing out trans community and , on that note, hosted a trans folks for harris called last week. let's talk about the growing power of >> first of all, thank you for being the mc today and keeping the energy up. thank you to all of you for joining us today. this is truly history in the making. i'm so excited to be part of it

with my fellow panelists. on the executive director of advocates for transit already. we are a brand-new organization from the merger of two national trans rights organizations. the reason we came together was because as the attacks against trans people are growing, we knew that we needed to grow just as aggressively to fight back. a lot of people don't realize that attacks against transgender people have been on the rise dramatically in recent years. both in the streets as an outright physical violence and in state legislatures across the country. for many years in our movement we would average somewhere around maybe 40 anti-lgbt bills and state legislators. in 2020 we suddenly saw a spike of over 120 anti-lgbt bills. most of those were anti-trans

specifically. even more narrowly going after transgender youth. some of the most vulnerable people in our community were being squarely targeted by the opposition. let's be clear, they are going after trans people because they are trying to go after all lgbt people. they see going after some of the most misunderstood people under the lgbt umbrella as a way to erode all of the rights and protections that all of us in this room benefit from. to fast-forward all the way to last year 2023 we faced over 500 anti-lgbt bills. most of them anti-trans and most of them specifically trans youth. so we really realized this is a time where we need to consolidate forces. we need to be twice as strong and twice as powerful. that's why we merged to become

advocates for trans equality. we got to partner with hrc and a lot of other partners on the stage to make the trans folks for harris call last week. i see a lot of familiar faces. senator sarah mcbride joined us. honey mahogany joined us. it was such a great opportunity to show the political power of transgender people. we may be under attack but we are also fighting back and succeeding. i am honored to be part of it. >> my next question is for annise parker. you are in the final months as president and ceo of the lgbtq plus victory fund and lgbtq plus institute. you will be departing the organization after seven incredible years of leadership.

i'm a victory fellow and i thank you for everything you've done. the organization has experienced incredible growth under your tenure. you are the first openly lgbtq plus mayor of a major city in america, houston, texas. shout out to beyonci's home. what are the biggest changes you have seen in terms of lgbtq plus representation in elected office and why does that matter so much to the movement as a whole? >> i have been doing this work since the early 70s. nobody has to do any math. it's a long day. i am 68 and i started as a college student in the early 70s. i am not quite the stonewall generation but i was right after it. i will tell you, the difference then and now then we were all individual activists on our own little island and on the community and we had no idea what was going on in the next

city or across the country. i know there is a sense that stonewall happened and it spread across the country. that is complete bs. it happened and a little whisper started and grew when we learned and we looked back and preserved our history. we were on our own little island reinventing the wheel constantly and not knowing whether we were making any progress together. what has changed is that we can find each other. we can organize with each other. we can use our collective power in ways we never had the ability to do back in the 70s and 80s. what has not changed is that we are still under attack. what has not changed is our children are still killing themselves. what is not changed is that the most vulnerable segments of our broader community are those that are under attack. it is deliberate.

victory has a very narrow place in the movement. i wish i could say that here. victory cannot and will not endorse kamala harris because unless you will come out she is not our mission. i wish but i don't think that will happen. we are the only national organization devoted solely to putting lgbt leaders into public office. we don't do policy. we don't do lobbying. just two people from our community trying to move our people into leadership. what you will find, in 1974, the first lgbt person was elected to office as an out individual your in america. there are about 1300 now. it's amazing progress and it is absolutely pathetic. think about that. 40 years we have gone from 1 to 1300.

there are hundreds of thousands of medical positions open every year across america. we are trying as hard as we can to fill those positions. what is exciting is that i believe that as we energize people to vote for those down ballot races for the amazing out lgbt leaders it will help push up the entire ticket. i am all for kamala harris and the energy and excitement and the coattails but there is a push-up affecting politics as well. a lot of people that don't get the big picture of how important the election is will show up to vote for their school board candidate that will keep the books on the shelves and they will show up for the city council candidate that will protect their nondiscrimination ordinance. i hope you will visit our website and take a look at some of the amazing people running

and find out a little bit more of what we are doing to push the entire ticket forward. thank you. >> the next question is for you, dr. richmond. as a recently retired professor of women's and gender studies in tennessee what do you see and does this moment feel different to you? >> first off, it's a pleasure to be here. i think the human rights campaign for inviting me from the fascist theocracy of tennessee. i would also like to note that today we have the transgender pride flag here. i just retired as you noted. after 32 years in the classroom. my last few years i was telling my students congratulations you've registered for an illegal class because the state of tennessee is one of those

that band diversity. i was teaching both african- american history and lgbtq history. i was proudly telling my students i'm a criminal and by taking this class you are participating in criminal activity. that's where we are. in tennessee this past more anti- lgbtq laws than any other state. 15 just the past three years. most of them targeted at trans people. we have lawsuits fighting to protect title ix. of course, there's a lawsuit trying to -- over a law that criminalizes drag queens. there is a lawsuit that i'm involved in that involves the criminalization of healthcare for trans youth. with school just starting up this month we are now sending warnings out that schoolteachers are now required to out transgender and

non-binary students. this is the reality of life for lgbtq students and particularly transgender people in tennessee. this particular year and this election not only is it critical that we elect a pro- equality administration with kamala harris and tim walz. i'm also pointing out that it is important that we also elect a pro-equality senate. in tennessee we have the u.s. senate race and our incumbent senator marsha blackburn is actively running ads against transgender people. i don't know how many transgender swimmers you have polluting your water in your particular states. i don't know of any in tennessee but thankfully we have a pro- equality candidate running for the senate. when we do see those maps across the country we know that

tennessee is painted suddenly read. we will keep fighting and urge those of you that are in battleground states to stand up and elect a pro-equality president, a pro-equality senate and if you want to help us and send money to our candidates in tennessee you have a lot of good candidates including lgbtq candidates running. we need your help because we need those positive role models in the legislature, city councils, school boards. we just elected a male to the school board in nashville and we need to be sure we elect a pro-equality president and vice president. >> my next question is for you, madam president. i love that. we need to be saying that all the time after november. you were hearing doctor -- dr.

richmond talk about how terrible things are in tennessee but if we are in a trump presidency we also talk about how terrible project 2025 is, donald trump and j.d. vance for this country and democracy as a whole. will you talk about what is possible for the community, i will say when, voters and allies show up. what is the world that you imagine? >> do you mind if i borrow yours? i want to start with picking up where you left off. i don't know if some of the opposition studied dr. kimberly crenshaw but they are what the nicene intersection nullity with chapter and verse using all tactics and strategies. attacking bathrooms. attacking swimming pools. attacking our education. all of the things they are doing especially as a black, queer person in the united states it's offensive for us

to not explicitly call out that in intersectional attack demands in intersectional full throated response because all of our fates are intertwined. thank you for saying that. when i think about the other side of it it just comes back. people don't try to attack you along these lines if they are not afraid of your power. we are looking at the most diverse generation this country has ever seen coming into power right now. a third identifies as members of the lgbtq plus community. we will be a majority minority country in the next several years. all of this is emerging and it scares people but for me it makes me incredibly excited. when i think about what can be possible if we vote this election it's simple things. i spoke to a trans kid in arizona earlier this week that is getting ready to go to his first prom. i spoke to a couple in

pennsylvania this year that have been together and love for 29 years but married by law for the last nine years. they can't be questioned in terms of the law and their benefits are available. i spoke to a service member that said he does not have to worry about his status and availability to serve based on a tweet. this is what we are fighting for. to live and exist against the erasure they are hoping for. i am really hopeful. i think governor walz says this often. it's really an opportunity to be alive in moments like this for the actions you take can determine the outcomes for future generations. i grew up in the reproductive rights movement particularly with some indigenous colleagues. the idea that in any moment we are sitting in this middle generation and our existence is

possible because of actions taken three generations before us. but also whatever we do today will determine the hopes and dreams and possibilities for people that are coming after us three generations from now. in moments like this we get to be part of the change. that to me is the hope and responsibility that we are sitting in in every single moment of every single day. not only this year but for years to come. >> that is a wonderful answer. you often say folks are afraid of our power. we know we have to dramatically shift in more power. what does that look like for you all? what does building that power look like? i will say take 30 seconds for each panelist. >> i have to go to some insight i got from a former pastor. she said sometimes she thinks that white sis gender straight males, part of the reasons they

are afraid as they are worried that we will treat them as horribly as they have treated us all these hundreds of years. that is not the goal. the goal that we do have is as the first black mayor of chicago said harold washington one of my icons is to be fair than fair. we can't just worry about protecting democracy in this moment. we have to reimagine it with people that look and love like us at the center. for us it is about reimagining freedom in this american story in a way that's more revolutionary than what our founders put down on that piece of paper but instead is the type of democracy that is by and for all of the people of this country. that is the opportunity that we have. >> dr. richmond, same question. >> we need more elected officials, more appointed officials. we need more people organizing at the grassroots level in

every community. that is how we build power. >> we will keep it going. >> absolutely. i started out as an activist. there's a place for people to take to the streets. our voices have power. we need to stand up and speak up and protest when it is appropriate. power is being in the room where the final decision is made. that is why we focus on putting elected leaders into those rooms were the actual decision is made and the laws are crafted and the vote is cast. >> to me power is basically about the ability to change things. do you have enough authority and influence to make change. i'm excited that this is the generation for trans people that is motivating more than before for power.

we do the u.s. transgender survey. in the most recent survey we found that trans people registered to vote animus 10 percentage points higher than the general population and turned out to vote in the last presidential election at almost 10 percentage points higher. we are a group of people that face a lot of barriers to voting and we are still registering and casting a ballot and still finding ways to get it done. that to me is what power is all about. >> so this is the last question. i'm thinking about the audience in which you are speaking to. you all are the leaders of the movement. what do you want folks to leave this room and this convention thinking, doing, or feeling. what you want them to take away from this convention and back to their communities. roderigo, i will start with you.

>> i will keep it short., every person here to go to transform the vote.work and check your registration and get five friends to do it. you have to register to vote and then you have to keep it updated. every time you move you should make sure your current address is on there. let's be real, a lot of us forget because we are busy. if you are trans and you have never legally changed her name we have resources specifically crafted to help you figure that out in case you have questions. address and name change does not have to be a barrier. we are here to help. >> keep coming out. keep coming out. keep coming out. this is not my mayor hair. this is my activist hair. i don't want to have to keep

coming out but i have to keep coming out. this is one way to not have to have conversations because people just assume. we have to keep being visible and present not just in rooms like this but rooms that are much harder. with our families. with a cousin who we don't get along with very well but we need to have conversations and talk about the reality of our lives naturally and over and over again in as many spaces as we can. that is what has transformed the world in the modern rights movement. it's not the marches of the protest or the people in the rooms of power. it's the individuals live their truth over and over again in places where it was not safe. we have to keep doing that. >> keep the invisible and be outspoken when necessary and don't let anybody think it is acceptable to be hateful towards any group or any person at any time.

>> i am with my panel here. keep showing up. show up every day to volunteer. show up and show out to vote. show up on inauguration day and show up in offices you've elected to let them know to whom they are accountable. in rooms like this we want to be clear. we are not settling for anything short of full equality and freedom for every single member of our community no matter what. >> you all, that is the end of this incredible panel. give it up again for our dj. roderigo, annise parker, dr. richard -- richmond. if you are wondering where to get these awesome t-shirts do not leave without getting one. give it up again you all. thank you.

♪ ♪ >> tonight state attorney general bob ferguson a democrat and formerreblican congressman dave reichert face- off to be washington states next governor. it is a by the association of business. you can watch it on c-span 2, c- span now or online. >> this year, c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other. since 1979 we have been your primary source for capitol hill providing balanced, unfiltered view of government taking you to where policy is debating or decided.